By Jerome Saydee, Activist for Democratic Reforms
President Joseph Boakai’s participation in the “Say No to Drugs” campaign on August 7, 2025, alongside genuine Liberian victims and activists demanding results, exposes his rank hypocrisy when the 2024-2025 budget is scrutinized. The Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA) received a meager $4 million, unchanged from prior years, barely enough to fund operations, training for 470 officers, or seize $5.5 million in drugs, targeting small-time dealers while kingpins evade justice. In stark contrast, the Office of the President was allocated $12.8 million in the $851.8 million 2025 budget, three times the LDEA’s funding, covering lavish expenses like travel and protocol while the drug crisis ravages 20% of Liberian youth. Boakai’s march with sincere citizens, including groups like the Gbowee Peace Foundation, is a hollow spectacle, exploiting their pain to mask his administration’s underfunding of the drug war and alleged protection of traffickers by his inner circle, betraying the very victims seeking real change.
This hypocrisy is further laid bare by the administration’s failure to act decisively against the kush epidemic, which continues to devastate communities in 2024-2025. While Boakai parades with citizens who have lost loved ones to addiction, his government has allocated only $425,787 to the “Kush Must Go” initiative, a 78% cut from its previous $1.93 million, crippling prevention and rehabilitation efforts. With just 163 addicts receiving treatment due to underfunded facilities, and no major traffickers prosecuted, Boakai’s inner circle is rumored to shield drug lords, allowing narcotics to flood markets unchecked. By joining the “Say No to Drugs” campaign, Boakai co-opts the anguish of Liberians while his administration’s inaction and meager budget betray their fight, prioritizing political optics over saving a nation drowning in addiction.
The government’s charade in the “Say No to Drugs” campaign is a slap in the face to Liberians who see through Boakai’s empty promises. While the 2025 budget boasts a 15.3% increase to $851.8 million, the LDEA’s stagnant $4 million allocation—compared to the $12.8 million for Boakai’s office, reveals a deliberate neglect of the drug crisis. Credible reports of Unity Party insiders protecting traffickers further erode trust, as kush continues to prey on vulnerable youth in slums. Boakai’s presence at the march, alongside citizens desperate for solutions, is not solidarity but a calculated move to deflect blame. His administration’s refusal to fund robust enforcement, expand treatment, or dismantle trafficking networks exposes a leader more interested in photo-ops than saving Liberia from the grip of drugs.
Boakai’s betrayal runs deeper as he stands shoulder-to-shoulder with grieving families and activists, knowing his administration’s budget choices starve the very solutions they demand. The $4 million LDEA budget, a mere 0.47% of the national total, pales against the $12.8 million lavished on the President’s Office, signaling where Boakai’s priorities truly lie, on personal prestige, not public welfare. While kush ravages communities, with 20% of youth ensnared and only 163 receiving treatment in 2024-2025, the government’s failure to pursue major traffickers, allegedly shielded by Boakai’s allies, mocks the campaign’s spirit. By parading with victims while underfunding the LDEA and ignoring the cries for justice, Boakai’s hypocrisy not only undermines the “Say No to Drugs” movement but abandons Liberia’s future to a merciless drug epidemic.